Entrepreneurs: Beyond The Dream
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
These words attributed to Steve Jobs couldn’t be more true for those of us who possess an entrepreneurial spirit. Within the community of those that have started their own businesses, there are some attributes and motivational factors that stand out, primarily having a vision that we strongly desire to come to fruition, unwavering belief in that vision, and then having the motivation to follow through on that dream.
As someone that has been fortunate enough to be involved with various start-ups, I can tell you that it never gets easier. Each time you decide to launch your wings and start anything new, despite previous success or failures, there is always a sense of fear, excitement, trepidation, and a nearly maniacal focus that comes with it.
Over the years, many people have commented to me that I must be living the dream since I own a business. While owning your own business may look glamorous, the insides of it are nearly anything but that. As an entrepreneur, your hours are nearly never-ending and your job titles are too numerous to count. On a given day, it’s easy to put in a minimum of fifteen hours, often working late into the night or rising earlier than most to attain your dreams. If you’re fortunate, you succeed. If you fail, as an entrepreneur, you generally don’t consider it a failure, you consider it a lesson and you try again.
The truth is that what you do beyond dreaming your dream is what makes or breaks you as an entrepreneur. And what you need to do involves diligent work, detailed planning, financial worries and considerations, assembling a trusted team, always going above and beyond and remaining motivated and inspired despite any setbacks that you might encounter.
It’s been fascinating to see the world we live in become nearly borderless thanks to the internet and technology. While this has unleashed limitless possibilities when it comes to following your own dreams, it can’t provide you with the drive and motivation to accomplish them-those are self-taught and usually intrinsic in most cases. In other words, borders do still exist, and those borders are usually within yourself.
You can dream the dream all day long, but you have to hustle for it, too.
